Justice Secretary ‘credible and competent’, says Deputy First Minister

Kate Forbes has said the Justice Secretary is “credible and competent” after calls for her to be sacked over claims of a “misrepresented” quote from a leading child abuse expert.

The Scottish Government is facing calls to dismiss Angela Constance, with Conservatives vowing to bring a vote of no confidence against her amid claims she “brazenly misrepresented” Professor Alexis Jay.

Labour said it had also submitted a motion of no confidence in Ms Constance in the wake of comments she made about Prof Jay.

Speaking on BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme, Deputy First Minister Ms Forbes was asked if she had confidence in Ms Constance.

She responded: “Absolutely. The Angela Constance that I know and have worked with for many years is caring, she’s credible and she’s competent and over the last few years in particular she has done a huge amount of complex work in the justice system, putting victims at its very heart.”

When Ms Constance rejected calls for an inquiry into grooming gangs in September, she told MSPs Prof Jay agreed with her that such a probe was not needed.

But emails made public by the Scottish Government on Wednesday revealed Prof Jay – who led the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Exploitation in Rotherham in 2014 – later contacted Ms Constance to say she would “appreciate” her position “being clarified”.

Ms Forbes said she believed that Prof Jay was “content” with the process of comments made by Ms Constance being clarified.

She said: “The full extent of the correspondence has now been published, and critically, Professor Alexis Jay was content with the process I understand.

“Although it’s important that you hear from her because putting words in people’s mouth is how we got into this debate in the first place, but I understand, she was content with the clarification being made about the context of her quotes at the national child sexual abuse and exploitation (strategic group).”

Conservative leader Russell Findlay criticised Ms Constance at First Minister’s Questions on Thursday.

The Tory leader has been calling for an inquiry into grooming gangs in Scotland.

He said: “The Justice Secretary brazenly misrepresented a leading child abuse expert in order to block a grooming gang inquiry in Scotland.

“The Justice Secretary misrepresented an expert, then denied doing so when asked by journalists.”